Hello at last from Gasherbrum Base Camp! I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to write but unfortunately one cannot account for technology and Pakistani porters!
In Nepal and Tibet the Sherpas seem to rise to the challenge, it doesn’t matter how late, how cold, how hard the work is, they just get stuck in and get on; it’s both inspiring and heartening in equal measure. Alas, our Pakistani porters don’t appear to have quite the same mentality. As individuals they are wonderful people and you can’t help but warm to them; collectively however, they’re a nightmare and seem well versed in the old English school of striking! The upshot is chaos, with personal gear and vital expedition equipment strung out along the trail several days behind us. Indeed we’ve no idea if it’ll even turn up at all! Crucially, our high altitude tents are amongst the gear that is missing. The trouble is, many of the other expeditions are experiencing similar problems and there is a high risk of everything becoming mixed up or going to the wrong Base Camp. (Concordia is a cross-roads from where you can head off to either Gasherbrum, K2 or Broad Peak Base Camp). Still, at least we now have communication!
Base Camp is situated on a thin, rocky, strip of moraine that divides the South Gasherbrum Glacier in two and is dominated by the huge peak of Gasherbrum I. As one of the last teams to arrive (some have been here two weeks or more) we are camped at the lower end of Base Camp, with just the Hungarians below us, and from here our objective, Gasherbrum II, remains hidden from view. Above us are the Czechs, Germans, Austrians, Chinese/Tibetans, Spanish and Australians, amongst others – so a real international mix of expeditions. All in all it takes about 30 minutes to walk from one end of Base Camp to the other.
The bad news is that the mountain is proving to be very difficult to climb this year. The three days of rain we experienced at Concordia translated into several metres of snow dumped higher up and the snow conditions are now less than ideal. An overhanging ice cliff also blocks the way to Camp 2 and only a handful of tough Czechs and hardened mountaineers have made it beyond Camp 1 let alone to Camp 2. So much for Gasherbrum II being one of the easier 8000m peaks! Nevertheless, conditions are improving and it’s hoped that in the next few days the route will be opened up by a couple of other teams and all being well they will make the first summits.
On a sadder note, a young woman from the German Amical team has died at Base Camp. We all watched in stunned silence as a giant russian MI-17 helicopter from the Pakistan Army flew in and airlifted her body out. A rather timely reminder, if ever we needed it, of the very real dangers of being at high altitude.
